1. In your opinion, what is a future-ready workforce?

A future-ready workforce is one that embodies adaptability and innovation in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. It’s about having teams who can confidently navigate technological changes, embrace continuous learning, and solve complex challenges creatively. We believe future-readiness means developing teams with strong digital capabilities who can collaborate effectively across functions while maintaining the agility to respond to market shifts. Most importantly, it’s about fostering a mindset where change is seen as an opportunity for growth rather than a disruption

At Al Masraf, our vision for a future-ready workforce is uniquely tuned to the dynamics of our industry and region. As we continue to see the banking industry evolve digitally, we are prioritizing continually upgrading skills and capabilities, while also creating a culture of lifelong learning for our workforce that is embedded into the flow of work.

2. How can you make sure that your workforce is progressing individually while also driving results?

We believe that the success of the organization and the growth of its people are interconnected. For us, individual growth and organizational progress go hand in hand.

One of the ways we achieve this balance is by creating Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for each employee. These personalized growth plans help align their career aspirations with our strategic objectives, which ultimately supports our long-term business goals.

Another key pillar is Performance-Linked Learning, where our training programs are directly tied to business key performance indicators (KPIs), which means that when employees grow, the business grows too. This ensures that skill development translates into measurable outcomes, making individual progress a driver of organizational success.

Mentorship plays a huge role in our approach, with our leadership actively supporting employee growth through open communication channels. Through our seasoned leaders and their “open door” policy, we cultivate a culture of growth, where knowledge transfer and professional development happen organically. Alongside mentorship, we have introduced regular feedback mechanisms, ensuring timely course corrections and recognizing individual achievements.

Finally, we actively encourage participation in cross-functional projects. These opportunities allow employees to step outside their core roles, broadening their skills while contributing to diverse organizational goals. This approach not only enriches their professional experience but also strengthens our collective capacity to innovate and adapt.

3. How do you balance between upskilling your current workforce and hiring new talent to meet future demands?

Striking the right balance between nurturing internal talent and bringing in fresh expertise is essential for sustainable growth. At Al Masraf, we’ve found that building an effective talent strategy requires careful consideration of both internal development and strategic recruitment.

With our focus on skills gap analysis, we regularly assess our current workforce’s capabilities against the demands of the future, which helps us identify specific areas where upskilling or new hiring will have the greatest impact.

However, strategic external hiring remains essential, particularly for specialized skills and emerging technologies. The key is integrating these new hires in a way that complements our culture and values.

To ensure the best outcomes, we also emphasize collaborative learning. By creating mixed teams of current employees and new talent, we encourage knowledge sharing and skill transfer across the organization. This approach not only accelerates development but also strengthens our collective ability to innovate and adapt. Ultimately, our goal is to build a workforce that is not just equipped for today but is also ready to lead Al Masraf into the future. By investing in both our people and strategic recruitment, we ensure that we remain agile and competitive in the evolving financial landscape.

4. What are the key skills and competencies you believe employees will need to stay relevant in the next five to ten years?

As technology continues to shape the future of work, it’s crucial that employees keep learning and adapting. According to the World Economic Forum, by 2027, technology and automation will transform 23% of all jobs, creating new roles while displacing others. The need to adapt has never been more urgent.

To stay relevant, employees will need to be digitally literate and proficient in data analytics, as understanding and leveraging data will be essential in driving innovation. Familiarity with artificial intelligence (AI) will be another important skill, as it’s already playing a key role in optimizing decision-making and automating processes in industries like banking and finance.

Cybersecurity awareness will also be critical, given the rise in digital threats, and everyone must have a strong understanding of how to protect sensitive information. Regulatory compliance will remain vital as the financial sector continues to evolve, and employees must keep up with changing regulations.

Understanding and implementing sustainable banking practices, including environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations, will become a key differentiator in the financial sector.

Customer experience will also be important, as offering exceptional service is a major competitive advantage. And let’s not forget about emotional intelligence – in a world that’s increasingly automated, human skills like empathy and interpersonal communication will be more valuable than ever in building strong relationships. Finally, employees need to be adaptable and committed to continuous learning, as the ability to learn quickly and adapt to new technologies will be key to staying competitive.

5. What technologies or platforms have you invested in to enable a more agile and adaptable workforce?

We’ve made strategic investments in cutting-edge digital platforms to empower our workforce and foster agility across the organization. Our implementation of Oracle Fusion has transformed our HR operations, enabling seamless talent management and providing our employees with intuitive self-service capabilities. We’ve also launched two comprehensive learning platforms – the Dizperz learning management portal and EIF Learning Portal – which offer our teams on-demand access to professional development resources and specialized training programs.

6. Can you share a success story of a future-readiness initiative within your organization and the outcomes it achieved?

One of our impactful initiatives has been evolving our learning culture at Al Masraf into an employee-driven approach to continuous growth. What began as HR and leadership-managed training programs has transformed into an environment where employees take ownership of their learning journeys. This evolution in our learning approach has strengthened employee engagement and internal mobility, as our teams develop new capabilities aligned with both their interests and our business needs. The success of this initiative demonstrates how employee-driven learning creates meaningful business value while building a more adaptable workforce.

Looking ahead, our goal is to create a more sustainable, integrated approach to future readiness by shifting from company-led initiatives to an employee-driven learning culture. Our next steps include regularly gathering feedback to refine and enhance our initiatives, forming informal learning communities or interest groups, and organizing skill-sharing sessions. These efforts will be shared throughout the organization to promote collaboration. We are also focusing on strengthening our recognition programs by incorporating both quantitative and qualitative measures of learning achievements and knowledge-sharing behaviors. Success lies not in building the perfect program from the outset, but in cultivating an environment where continuous learning and adaptability become core to the organization’s DNA. This approach will ensure that we remain agile, forward-thinking, and well-prepared to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the future.